Taking the Long Way

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The world’s Port wine is produced from grapes which are grown and hand-harvested in the Douro River Valley, Portugal. Think of any Port that comes to mind…for me those are Sandeman, Six Grapes and Taylor…all are grown along the Douro River and all are exported from the city of Porto.Port is a blend of Portuguese grapes.…

The day’s mission was to obtain two new SIM cards for our iPads so that we would have data coverage in Portugal; we’re establishing quite the collection of SIM cards, I’m sure the teeny things will soon amount to enough to cover an entire wall! I did a quick search using the marina’s wifi to…

Welcome to Porto, Portugal (just a 2-mile walk and 45-minute metro ride from Leixoes, Portugal where we’d found the best marina price nestled in the center of Porto’s commercial harbour). Porto was a feast for the eyes; many buildings’ exterior walls are adorned with intricately patterned, ceramic tiles often draped with drying laundry. Narrow, cobble-stoned streets lined…

If there ever were a time to gain confidence in a boat, or to get the wits scared out of you, it would be during a gale. Gales might spring up, like an uninvited guest, along a passage after the best possible forecast has been cautiously selected. That is not the case, however, when departure for a passage…

We set a play date with friends in Devon, England and set sail; 73 nautical miles east along England’s coastline (yup, going the wrong way yet again). We had a fabulous, downwind sail on a sunny day fortunately with the current in our favor (planned) and picked up a blue, guest mooring that evening as the sun…

The Irish Sea blessed us with a fabulous forecast, light north wind, on which we motor-sailed 382 uneventful, nautical miles from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Detour rocketed downwind, 10-knots on the speedometer with a 4-knot current in our favor; then 6-hours later at the change of the tide we cursed that dang current for slowing us to a…

I’d like to thank Mark, who has done a fabulous job to captivate this audience with Scottish lore! Meanwhile, behind the scenes… Brian and I have sailed Detour 1,374nm south from Glasgow; even at sailing pace, the scenery has changed so rapidly for us that some days it seems we’ve been plucked from the ground and…

I am not a blue water sailor and am rather apprehensive of the water, so in many ways, a trip on a canal and among islands with abundant sea and bird life is just about right for me. And indeed it was — there were so many things to see, and Steph and Brian were…

After departing the Crinan Canal, we had a relatively short distance to travel to the heart of Glasgow. But timing was very important; we would be traveling many miles up the River Clyde into Glasgow and the tide affects the flow for the entire distance. No reason to motor against the tide if not necessary.…

*** Thanks to our Admin, Mark, for sharing his (and Detour’s) experience on the Crinan Canal; fortunately they all made it through without me! *** The most interesting thing about the Crinan Canal is that you operate the locks yourself as you travel through. The Crinan Canal was originally built a few years earlier than the…